


The Great Darkening

by Markothemartiantrollan



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, all skeksis except skeksil are dead, darkening gelfling au, gelflings are the villains in my au, good skeksis evil gelfling au, mystics are also good, past trauma, the darkening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22514956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Markothemartiantrollan/pseuds/Markothemartiantrollan
Summary: 20 trine after the Gelfling rebellion, Skeksil, the last living skeksis, finally decides leave his sanctuary to reunite the shard with the Crystal of truth.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1: The Time Has Come...

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my Dark Crystal au. Basically, the skeksis are good and are on good/neutral terms with their mystics. They still rule over the Gelflings and use the crystal's power. They didn't know about the darkening and it affected the creatures of thra. The gelflings turned evil and started a rebellion. Skeksil was the only one who made it. Also any criticism is welcome, I'm gonna need(my writing skills need improvement).

The land of Thra had been ruined. The Darkening had affected most of Thra’s creatures, including the Gelfling race. All except the Dousan Clan were affected by the darkening. The Gelfling, with their minds corrupted, decide that they would overthrow the skekSis. It had been twenty trine since the war between the skekSis and the Gelfling, and the Gelfing had won. The Gelflings took control of the Crystal, using its power to live forever. The All Maudra and her daughters moved to live at the Castle of the Crystal.  
There was one skekSis had survived the war, that was skekSil. His beautiful red and black robes became tattered and lost some of their color. He lost his trademarked smile, he couldn’t feel like he could be truly happy again. After the final battle, he fled to the Crystal Desert, only to meet the Dousan clan who offered him a sanctuary. They were the only Gelfling clan that wasn’t affected by the Darkening. They still had their mercy. skekSil sat on the hill gazing at the sinking desert when he heard a cry. He ran to where he heard the noises. A group of Gelflings were staring at the ground, the Darkening had made its way to the desert. skekSil stood in shock, “Not here...how could Darkening spread so far?”. Maudra Seethi stepped forward, “The Crystal of Truth is still being used. The All Maudra is using it on herself to obtain immortality.” skekSil stared at her and blurted, “But Gelfling is affected by darkening! Wouldn’t using Crystal have unknown affects?”. “I don’t think that it will harm her, she has been using it for quite some time and nothing harmful has seemed to happen to her. She isn’t the only Gelfling using the Crystal’s power. Although, it doesn’t matter, we need to reunite the shard with the Crystal. We should have done this a long time ago.” “But the shard has gone missing” one of the Gelflings stated. “No,” said Maudra Seethi, “Mother Aughra took watch over the shard, we have to find her and retrieve i-” skekSil interrupted, “No, if All Maudra see Dousan going against her, she will start war, cause many deaths. I will go alone.” “But skekSil, when they see you they won’t show any mercy. They will stop at nothing to have you dusted.” Another Gelfling stated. Skeksil looked at the Darkening, “It’s skekSis fault Crystal is broken and Darkening is spreading. And if All Maudra sees Dousan clan help me, could start war and cause more deaths.” The Gelflings sadly looked at him and lowered their heads, Maudra Seethi stepped towards him and said, “May you return to Thra peacefully if anything goes wrong.”  
Hours later, skekSil stared at the end of the Crystal Desert, knowing that he would seal his journey and his fate the moment he left the desert. He so badly wanted to bring the Dousan clan with him, he was scared. But if he lost anyone, he knew that he would do something drastic to himself. He couldn’t handle anymore deaths. He looked towards the sky and stepped forward.  
At the Castle of the Crystal, the Gelfling heard a noise erupt from the Crystal. Once they all gathered, some let out shrieks of suprise, others let out loud gasps when they saw the former Chamberlain leaving the Crystal Desert. “A skekSis!?” one cried out in confusion. “It’s the Chamberlain!” one of the other Gelflings exclaimed. The Gelflings, in their paranoia, assumed that skekSil was going to steal the Crystal. They all looked towards the All Maudra who was glaring at the Crystal, “Send troops after him, we can’t let him take our crystal.” Many Gelfling soldiers either flew or rode out of the castle, heading towards skekSil’s direction.  
skekSil arrived to Mother Aughra’s home. He knew that if he got too close that her vines would snatch him up, so he shouted her name. Her old familiar eye appeared from behind a wall, “skekSil?”, she asked. "Mother Aughra, it has been many trine." skekSil responded, smiling weakly. "You old lizard! I thought you perished during the war. Good to see at least one of the skekSis survived. Where have you been all this time?" skekSil replied, "I have been living in Crystal Desert, Dousan Clan offered me sanctuary. I only left because I want to reunite Crystal with shard. Darkening has spread very far. I know that you still have shard." Mother Aughra took him inside, while he waited he stared at the machine he and his friends made for Aughra so that she could travel the universe while they experimented on the Crystal. Mother Aughra popped her head in front of skekSil’s and stated suddenly, “What’s it for!? I remember asking you that the second I saw it.” skekSil made a small smile and then grimaced going through old memories. “Friends and I shouldn’t have built contraption, nothing good came after that.” Mother Aughra looked back at the machine and replied, “I’ll say, the Gelflings are nothing but corrupted nowadays. It’s my fault as well.” She then brought a box of shards and set them on the floor. Skeksil looked at the shards, then he looked at Aughra and asked, “Which is real shard?” Aughra stared back at him, shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Don’t know.” skekSil glared at her and was about to protest, but then he remembered how she wasn’t supposed to continue to look after the shard. One of the Skeksis were going to retrieve when they had the chance, they just never got the chance. A long while later, skekSil numbered the shards down to three. He wondered how he was going to figure out which one was the correct one. He remembered that the Mystics would connect to Thra by singing a deep chant. The only skekSis who sang was skekGra, none of the skekSis wanted to hear him sing because they thought that his voice was grating. None of them thought that singing was for them. But it was for Thra, Skeksil erupted into a deep, grating howl that he tried to make sound melodius. Aughra looked at him in disbelief. skekSil continued to howl, he tried to sound like how the Mystics sung. One of the shards began to glow, skekSil stopped abruptly and grabbed the shard. His eyes widened and he smiled and turned to Mother Aughra. But before anything could be said, the windows shattered and Gelfling soldiers started to break their way in.


	2. Chapter 2: It's Our Mistake This Happened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skeksil narrowly avoids death and has an emotional reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't entirely know how a gelfling affected by the darkening would act. I just figured that they would be aggressive and kinda crazy.

skekSil and Mother Aughra jumped and screamed in shock. Gelflings were swarming in like ants through the broken windows. skekSil ran towards a wall and started to climb it. He scrambled up to the only window the Gelflings weren’t climbing through. A few female soldiers started to fly towards him. He jumped out right before he could be grabbed and ran. Traumatic memories flashed in his mind as he ran, memories of his friends breaking into stone and dust. Memories of their pained screams. The sad look the Emperor gave him moments before he was surrounded and brutalized stuck to his brain. He started to panic and hyperventilate. A few soldiers climbed back out and started chasing him, but they couldn’t match his speed. skekSil ran as far as his frail body would allow. He was familiar with the land around Mother Aughra’s home. He hid behind a bush when he felt that he got far enough distance between him and the soldiers. He brought one of his hands to his chest and started to take deep breaths. He closed his eyes and leaned his head onto the bush.

The soldiers that chased after skekSil made their way back into Mother Aughra’s house.  When one of them entered, Captain Ordon immediately went up to him and through broken grammar asked if skekSil had been caught. The Gelfling soldier shook his head. Ordon made a small yelp in anger and smacked the soldier. He looked towards Mother Aughra and shouted to his soldiers, “She is an enemy of the Crystal. She is friends with the skekSis, take her to the castle!”. Mother Aughra shouted and wriggled in protest as they grabbed her.

skekSil continuously checked his surroundings as he traveled through the forest. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a noise. He looked towards where he heard the noise. He saw a familiar looking footprint. He could feel his heart beating fast and started looking around. His back was turned to a log when a Fizzgig screamed at him. He screamed and stumbled into a swamp. He grunted in frustration and glared at the Fizzgig. His eyes widened when a familiar face emerged from the bushes. A Mystic, his Mystic urSol, walked towards the Fizzgig and picked it up. urSol turned his face towards skekSil and gave him a gentle smile and greeted him. skekSil felt a wave of emotions hit him. He felt like breaking down. Part of him felt like he would never see his Mystic again. The two had a heartfelt reunion, they talked about what they did to survive the war. skekSil spoke of the Dousan clan and how he left the Crystal Desert to reunite the Crystal with the shard. urSol told him how he found a Podling village and lived there until he felt the Crystal call out to him. “I’m glad that you realize our time has come, dear friend.” urSol told him. skekSil looked back at the shard and thought of how a lot of the problems they dealt with wouldn’t have happened if the skekSis weren’t obsessed with themselves. They weren't on negative terms with their Mystics, but they didn't want to be UrSkeks again. skekGra and urGoh were the only ones who wanted to reunite. Nobody listened to them. skekSil finally wished he did. If they had made the simple, smart decision to fix the Crystal. He lowered his eyes and replied, “Our time should have come long ago.” He looked at the swamp when he realized that he was sinking, he tried standing up but he was stuck. urSol noticed his struggle and chanted a slow melody. skekSil felt himself slowly rise as one of the swamp creatures slowly lifted him out. He got out of the swamp and approached urSol. The two stared at each other again before they descended their way through the forest.

Mayrin slowly walked through the hallway leading to her throne, gripping her cane harder with each step. There was a small group of Gelflings, including her youngest daughter, that were following her. They were carefully watching and tending to her. Even with the Crystal’s rejuvination, it couldn’t stop the effects of aging. Mayrin felt weak, and she couldn’t handle it. It drove her mad at first, it made her paranoid that she would be overthrown. If it weren’t for her daughters, she might have been. Her daughters had also aged, they weren’t as energetic as they were twenty trine ago. The group of Gelflings following her made sure to keep their distance, they didn’t want to unintentionally cause an epsiode with her. Mayrin slowly approached and sat on the throne that once belonged to the Emperor. She blankly stared at the room. Ordon and his troops suddenly entered the room and marched up to Mayrin, a few soldiers brought in a wriggling bag. The Gelflings in the room gasped and one exclaimed, “The skekSis!”. Brea put her hand in her pocket and clutched her journal. She didn’t know what to think, all she knew was that she was scared but excited. Ordon kneeled and said, “My Lord, the skekSis escaped our grasp. We weren’t able to retrieve him.” Mayrin glared at Ordon and unhurriedly asked him what was in the bag. The Gelfling soldiers holding the bag opened it and Mother Aughra climbed out. The Gelflings onced again gasped, Mayrin sat up and put her hands to her sides. Mother Aughra shouted at the Gelflings, “You foolish brats! Destroying my home and taking me hostage. What do you want me for!?” Ordon stated, “She was found helping the skekSis, she may know what his plans are and where he is goi-” “Gone! He is gone, you won’t find him! That old lizard has known the land of Thra longer than all of of you.” Mayrin stared at Mother Aughra and lifted her hand, a few of the soldiers grabbed Aughra and started taking her out of the room. Mayrin then shouted for the female soldiers to search from the sky. Female soldiers started flying out of the castle. What Mayrin didn’t notice was that Brea flew out along with them. 

The water rippled as urSol’s boat  leisurely moved though the lake. urSol slowly paddled the boat. skekSil, feeling slightly bored and wanting amusement, jokingly asked, “Could go slower?” “Hush now, the village isn’t to far from us now.” urSol replied. skekSil made a small smile. urSol suddenly told him to lie down. skekSil rested his body down on the boat, he felt urSol drape something over his body. urSol quietly told him that he saw a Gelfling flying by, “The sky is getting dark, stay calm friend, she won’t see us.” skekSil tried not to shake much and squeezed his eyes shut, urSol put his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. urSol took the blanket off when he heard the buzzing disappear. The boat eventually hit land and urSol lead skekSil to the village that kept him safe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel kinda bad for making poor skeksil have ptsd :< he has been through quiet a lot. also had to make some edits to chapter 2 ''<


	3. Chapter 3: I Know What To Do

urSol gently held skekSil’s wrist as he lead him to the Podling village. The second they arrived at the village, Podlings swarmed to urSol. Some of them were pulling his arms, others were hugging him, a young one was holding his tail. One of them even climbed onto his back. skekSil expected this of the Podlings, it didn’t suprise him that they viewed urSol as a grandpa figure. They were always very childlike. He was slightly nervous as to how the Podlings would react to him. While the skekSis did have Podling servants, they didn’t entirely go out of their way to make themselves known to the entire Podling race, like how they did to the Gelflings. When the Podlings layed their eyes on skekSil, most of them stayed still for a moment. A couple of the Podlings went up to skekSil, one of the Podlings said something to him. skekSil knew they were asking if he wanted a drink. He nodded his head and followed the Podlings.

Hours had passed, Podlings were dancing, music was blasted through the room. skekSil and urSol were sitting at a table. skekSil started to thank the Podling who offered him food, but stopped abruptly when he saw a group of Podlings carrying a pitcher. He turned his head to the side and let out a surprised “Hmmm…” when he saw a drenched Podling emerge from the pitcher. urSol chuckled at skekSil’s confusion. He broke out into a gentle laugh when he saw Fizzgig run across a couple tables. Fizzgig scattered over to urSol’s table and started gnawing at one of the wooden spoons. skekSil looked at urSol and stated, “Surprised to see you take care of rambunctious creature.” urSol replied, “He’s not as bad as some of the childlings here.” skekSil took the shard out of one of his robes and displayed it to urSol. He stared at it and said, “When I left Crystal Desert, I was very irrational, did not make strategic plan.” urSol made a surprised face and jokingly said, “The wise Chamberlain, not thinking out his plans.” skekSil didn’t break his gaze from the shard and replied, “ I don’t know how I will get to The Crystal.” The negative mood was interrupted when a young Podling ran between them and waved a toy. When the Podling ran off another Podling came up to skekSil and grabbed his hands. The Podling led him away from the table and started to dance. skekSil gave urSol a look that meant “Help me please”. urSol just gave him a small smirk and watched him helplessly dance. He picked up Fizzgig into his arms. urSol turned his head and stopped breathing for a second when he saw the same Gelfling from before entering the residence. A few Podlings stopped what they were doing to look at the soldier. skekSil and the Gelfling locked eyes, the soldier ran out of the building. skekSil didn’t even have time to run up to urSol before the Gelfling returned with backup. A Podling went up to them and tried to greet them. One of the soldiers immediately shoved the Podling aside. The rest of the Podlings in the room stopped what they were doing. Even more soldiers entered the building and started running towards skekSil and urSol. Many Podlings went in front of them and demanded to know what was going on. The soldiers tried to burst their way through the group. A brawl started to happen, a few Podlings started to freak out and left the small building. skekSil tried to carry urSol away from the chaos, he grunted as he picked up the Mystic. As soon as they got out, skekSil heard a Gelfling shout, “There’s the skekSis!” skekSil saw a large number of soldiers flying towards them. Suddenly, a familiar looking Gelfling stopped them. She stuck out her hand and looked towards him. skekSil recognized this as his chance to get away, he grabbed urSol and ran. 

When skekSil finally stopped, he set urSol down and plopped himself on the ground. He lowered his head and let out a frustrated whimper. He pulled out the shard and glared at it. With a frustrated grunt, he threw it as far as he could. urSol yelped, “skekSil!”. He slowly walked to the area the shard was thrown at, and then walked back to skekSil. He tenderly held skekSil’s clenched fist, he put his hands on his shoulders with his second set of arms. skekSil rested his face onto urSol’s chest and took a deep breath. They stayed in that position for a long time. 

skekSil slowly lifted his eyelids as he felt the Three Brothers light touch his face. He sat up and looked at his surroundings. He then stood up and started to search for the shard. urSol and Fizzgig awoke from their slumber and started to follow skekSil. urSol noticed that the shard was in a small triangular sculpture. He grabbed it, he noticed skekSil slowly wandering towards a broken gate. skekSil let out a saddened “Oh.” upon the sight of the Stone In The Wood gate. The once thriving village was now in ruins. The Stone In The Wood village was destroyed during the war, the Gelflings were so bent in the destruction of the skekSis that they didn’t care what they destroyed. The clan moved to live by the Castle of the Crystal. All of that was forgotten when he saw Brea looking at one of the damaged walls. Her back was turned to him, she was reading the messages on the wall. An idea popped in skekSil’s head, and he felt the corners of his mouth finally go up into the cunning smile he hadn’t made in a long time. He slightly turned his head to the side and grinned even more. She was the All Maudra’s daughter, she may be their chance to get to the Castle of the Crystal with no trouble. He unintentionally let out a happy sound. 


End file.
